


Serenata Sin Luna

by bev_hm



Series: Mariachi Richie Tozier [2]
Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - No Pennywise (IT), Feelings Realization, Fluff, Good Parent Maggie Tozier, M/M, Mexican Maggie Tozier, Richie Tozier Loves Eddie Kaspbrak
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-17 04:54:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28968654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bev_hm/pseuds/bev_hm
Summary: Richie has a bone to pick with whatever’s been making him act weird in front of Eddie.Or Mariachi Richie 2: Electric Boogaloo
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Series: Mariachi Richie Tozier [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1940746
Comments: 3
Kudos: 34





	Serenata Sin Luna

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! Very happy to be bringing Mariachi Richie back! Big thanks to my friend [Mara](https://twitter.com/hadertata?s=21) for beta’ing this work. Enjoy!

Richie has a bone to pick with whatever’s been making him act weird in front of Eddie. 

For the past couple of months, it’s like the part of his brain that made him act like a normal human being in front of his best friend has suddenly quit without bothering to leave a replacement. Which is not good ‘cause it had been doing a pretty mediocre job anyways. 

And the worst part is that it has  _ only  _ been with Eddie. He can be joking around with the rest of the losers no problem, but the second Eddie’s in his line of sight, he clams up and stutters through his words even worse than Bill.  _ Before  _ he started speech therapy. It’s even causing more problems, since now the mere thought of the boy makes him feel hot and queasy, like when his mom makes the salsa a little bit too spicy. 

This dilemma has presented itself now in the form of him being too nervous to ask Eddie to listen to a song he’s been practicing. This isn’t the first time at all, he has backed out of showing him any music for longer than the ‘situation’ has been going on for. Sure, Eddie has seen him perform before, but he has never heard him sing or play by himself. It’s a way more vulnerable state than him on stage with the rest of the band, standing in the background while he plays the fourth guitar. 

Still, he has shown this song to Ben and Bev, and if he wants to show it to the losers, it’s only fair to show his best friend what he’s been blowing him off for. He knows Eddie, and he’ll be pissed if he finds out that he’d shown Ben and Bev before he even tried to show him. 

He’s had Eddie’s number dialed for ten minutes, having memorized years ago, yet he still can’t bring himself to fulfill the call. His hands are sweating profusely, making him drop the phone several times. Plus, every time he’d almost clicked the call button, his throat dried up, and his brain seemed to decide that words weren’t a thing it cared for anymore. 

Sadly for him, as he overthought how he should greet his friend, he pressed that dreaded button, and the phone started to beep. He’d have hung up and called again when he was ready, but not only did that seemed far away from happening, but he knew that if Mrs. Kaspbrak heard the phone ring only to have no one answer on the other side, she’d get pissed and he did not want Eddie to suffer through that. 

After a couple of rings, he heard the sound that indicated someone had picked up on the other side, and then was gladly regarded by what he liked to call Eddie's ‘customer service voice’. 

“Kaspbrak residence! This is Eddie, how can I help you?” 

Normally Richie would make some sort of joke, poking at the fact that Eddie had an extreme need to have adults like him, but he was painfully aware his voice would not want to cooperate. Ever since entering puberty he had been cursed to infinite cracks in his voice. Cracks that Eddie  _ loved  _ to make fun of, right up until Richie remarked that at least his voice was changing, which was promptly followed by the boy cursing him out in that squeaky voice that made him weak in the knees. 

“Hey Eds!” He said, his voice betraying him in the first syllable. He cringed when he heard the boy’s muffled laugh coming through the receiver, but still felt a sense of pride from making him laugh. “Since you’re on the phone, can you be a doll and let your mother know I won’t be able to make our date tonight? I know it’s been too long since we’ve made sweet, sweet love but-”

“Goodbye Richie!”

“Wait! Don’t hang up!” He exclaims, panicky. He clears his throat before continuing. “Um, are you busy right now?” 

“Nah, I’ve just been watching soap operas with Ma.” Richie smiles when he hears how he cups the end of the phone. “Please get me out of here. I can't watch another amnesia storyline without ripping my goddamn hair out.” 

“Well you’re in luck my good sir!” Richie replied, pulling out that British accent he knows Eddie despises. “For I have a proposition that is irresistible indeed!”

“Just spit it out Rich! I don’t have all day.”

“Right.” Richie’s hands start to sweat once again. He swallows hard, holding the phone between his ear and his shoulder while he wipes the sweat off on his jeans. “I was just wondering, um. Ifyou’dliketocomeovertomyhousetolistentoasongIlearnt.”

“What the fuck did you say?”

“I asked if you wanted to come over to listen to a song I learnt!”

The dead silence from Eddie’s end was unnerving for Richie. His heart beat faster and faster as he awaited for a response. After a minute went by with no response, his brain started overthinking, and soon enough his mouth had to keep up with it as well. 

“Look it’s cool if you’re not interested, I’ll probably be playing it at the next Noche Mexicana with the group, but I’ve been hearing that they’re going to sell tickets in order to raise some money to help out the Martinez family ‘cause I don’t know if you know this but Mr. Martinez got sick and apparently the medical bills are super high and they can’t afford it. But don’t worry I’ll get you a ticket! Anything for my biggest fan, which in this case would be you, my dear ol’ spagheds.” He had to stop when he ran out of air. He sighed, feeling dumb after all the shit that came out of his mouth. “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to, it was stupid anywa-” 

“Fuck you, I’m coming.” Eddie exclaimed before hanging up. 

He stood there in shock for a few seconds as a smile formed on his face. Eddie did not listen to anyone who told him what to do, so of course the moment Richie told him not to come he would accept the invitation. He chuckled to himself, feeling endeared at his friend’s willingness to come and hear him play a silly little song.

_ ‘Oh shit, Eddie’s coming over.’  _

He looked around at the state of his room, knowing it was deeply below Eddie Kaspbrak’s cleanliness standard. Eddie was already going out of his way, probably bartering with his mother so he could go out, he definitely needed to clean up to offer him nothing but the best.

God was his room fucking filthy. 

The Kaspbraks lived a ten minute walk away to his house, which became a mere five minute run for Eddie, who had become even faster than ever since he joined track a few months back, so he knew he had limited time until the other boy arrived. He immediately got to work, grabbing all the clothes off the floor and putting them into the hamper without doing the smell test. He looked for trash in the deepest corners in the room, cursing his past self for being such a pig. He stacked his books on his desk, put all his school papers in his backpack, and quickly made his bed. Once he thought it looked good enough he made his way downstairs, not before checking himself out on the mirror his mother had set up at the end of the hallway. He fluffed his hair, trying to fix it up the way Eddie had actually admitted once he thought it looked good, before stopping and questioning himself on why it was so important for Eddie to like it. He didn’t get an answer though, as the doorbell rang in that moment. 

“Ya voy!” Maggie exclaimed from her seat in the living room, pulling Richie out of his stupor. “Oh! Hi Eddie!” 

“I’m coming!” He yelled before jumping on the railing and sliding down, a move that he had perfected after way too many injuries. He ran to the front door as soon as his feet touched the floor, but he was still getting used to his long limbs, courtesy of his latest growth spurt, so he was not able to stop himself before colliding into his mother. Good thing Maggie was tall and sturdy, otherwise he would have tackled them both into the ground. 

He looked up to find Eddie with a hand over his mouth, covering a smile, just like he pictured during their phone call. He was so enthralled by the boy in front of him, that he didn’t notice his glasses slip down his nose and off his face, making Eddie laugh harder. The sight filled Richie with a nice warm feeling, and all he could think of was about how pretty Eddie’s smile was, and how cute he looked when he laughed. Especially since he had small dimples that framed his grin in such an adorable way that all Richie wanted to do is make Eddie happy forever, so they would always show.

“Why are you looking at me like that, dipshit?”

Richie looked back to find his mom gone, which explained why Eddie had been so nonchalant about cursing. He stood up straighter, put on a confident smirk, and stepped aside to let Eddie walk into the house.

The pair walks up to Richie’s room, as Eddie takes his chance to rant about his ‘quality time’ with his mother, which consisted of watching ‘Days of Our Lives’ while she went off about some woman from her church who had allegedly stolen one of her recipes. Richie remained quiet, simply choosing to let Eddie drone on about petty old women drama. Once they walked into the room, the shorter boy made no comments about its state, which had Richie fist bump the air as he considered his cleaning operation a success. 

Eddie sat down on the bed while Richie took his desk chair, sitting backward and reclining his chin over the top of the back. 

“And I just wanted to scream at her ‘No shit Caroline has the same recipe as you Ma! You gave her the recipe book as a gift! And it’s not even your fucking recipe, it’s Julia Child’s!’” Eddie threw his arms in the air to show his frustration, endearing Richie once again. While Eddie seemed to be done with his tirade, Richie was too busy staring at his freckles and wondering if he could count them.

“Dude, are you gonna show me the song or what?” Eddie said, shaking a hand in front of his face.

He didn’t reply, simply choosing to just stretch his arm and pat the air until his hand hit the stand where he kept his guitar. It took him an embarrassing long time, but once he had committed to the bit he was not going to back out. Eddie of course looked unimpressed, and he kept glancing at his watch so as to signal how done he was with Richie’s antics. 

He turned his chair around, doing an elaborate move that he was extremely handful didn’t prompt him to fall, so he could face Eddie again. He cleared his throat and wiped down his hands once again (Jesus Fucking Christ, did they have a faucet he didn’t know about?). 

The weight of Eddie’s expectant gaze was too much to bear, so he closed his eyes and focused on the chords he had memorized after hours of practicing. 

_ No hace falta que salga la luna _

_ Pa' venirte a cantar mi canción _

_ Ni hace falta que el cielo esté lindo _

_ Pa' venir a entregarte mi amor _

His voice broke on the first verse, and he almost gave up. But as he opened his eyes, Eddie’s expression was encouraging, not mocking like he expected. 

_ No encontré las palabras precisas _

_ Pa' decirte con mucha pasión _

_ Que te quiero con toda mi vida _

_ Que soy un esclavo de tu corazón _

_ Sólo Dios, que me vio en mi amargura _

_ Supo darme consuelo en tu amor _

_ Y mandó para mí tu ternura _

_ Y así, con tus besos, borró mi dolor  _

He felt more confident with each verse he sang. He knew that a bit of his American accent shone through, but it had been disappearing the more he spoke Spanish both at home and with his family. All he dreamed about was the day he would feel comfortable singing front and center on stage. 

_ No te importe que venga borracho _

_ A decirte cositas de amor _

_ Tú bien sabes que, si ando tomando _

_ Cada copa la brindo en tu honor _

_ No te puedo decir lo que siento _

_ Sólo sé que te quiero un montón _

_ Y que a veces me siento poeta _

_ Y vengo a cantarte mis versos de amor _

He smiled unconsciously, a deep part of his brain matching the words in the song with his favorite person on earth. 

_ Sólo Dios, que me vio en mi amargura _

_ Supo darme consuelo en tu amor _

_ Y mandó para mí tu ternura _

_ Y así, con tus besos, borró mi dolor _

“So, what did you think?” He asked without looking up, instead finding that the floor was very interesting today. 

No response. Eddie was quiet as a mouse. For all Richie knew, he had stood up and walked out 

“Eddie? Did you like it?” He asked once again. Again dead silence. Too anxious to not know what was going on. 

Surprisingly, not only was Eddie still there, but he had an expression that he had seen very little times. Eddie looked in awe. They made eye contact, which seemed to be the thing that brought the boy back to reality. He started bombarding him with questions and comments, talking so fast that Richie could only tell were positive because of the inflection in his tone. This went on for a few moments, right up until the moment Eddie could not physically talk without having to take a deep breath.

“So, you liked it?” Richie asked again, tapping his guitar incessantly in anticipation. 

“Hell yeah! I have no fucking clue what you said, but it was awesome Rich!” Eddie exclaims, giving him a friendly nudge on the shoulder. 

Richie beams at him, so happy that he doesn’t even want to deflect the praise with a dumb joke. He couldn’t believe he had been so nervous before. Sure, their relationship was cemented in banter and poking fun at each other, but that was balanced with an unspoken but unconditional support in their wants and interests. Richie went to every track meet Eddie had, and would make posters to cheer him on by the bleachers. Eddie went to every one of his presentations, even though he was always stuck in the background. Why would this be any different? 

Neither of them say anything. There was a feeling of calm and safety surrounding them, and it had been the most at ease he had felt in a long time. Which was of course why that peace had to be interrupted, because Richie could never get anything good in his life. 

“Boys! Do either of you want any snacks?” Maggie asked from the other side of the door. Their locked gazes broke, and though he’s sure he must have imagined it, Richie saw a faint blush on Eddie’s face. 

“Sure mamá! Thank you!” He replied, before moving to put away the guitar. 

“Wait!” Eddie exclaimed, blocking Richie with his arm. The boy complied immediately, putting the instrument back into his arms. He looked at Eddie expectantly, and now he definitely knew that Eddie was blushing, probably because of the heat. 

“Could you, um.” Eddie seemed uncharacteristically nervous. “Could you play some more songs?”

“Yeah! Totally!” Richie replied, giddy at his friend’s new interest. “Look, this one I’ve been working on, but it’s been taking long because I’ve been trying to figure out the chords on my own.” 

And that’s how they spent the rest of the afternoon, with Richie showing Eddie what he’s been working on, both covers and original, and Eddie encouraging Richie to continue. They barely noticed the time go by, only realizing it had gotten late by the moonlight seeping through the cracks of Richie’s blinds. Richie wanted to walk Eddie all the way to his house, but he insisted he could do it alone, remarking that his mother would be even more pissed at coming back late if she found out that he had been at the Toziers’. Still, Richie walked him to the front door.

“Well, thanks for coming over.” 

“I’m glad I did.”

The awkward feeling came back, although it seemed to have spreaded to Eddie as well. Usually they had no problem saying goodbye, but now it was like they had been replaced by aliens who knew nothing about human interactions. They stood in the cool night air, an uncomfortable silence that drastically contrasted the one from a few hours back. 

“Don’t let this go to your already big ass head, dipshit.” Eddie started. “But you’re actually pretty good at music.”

Usually he would respond with exactly that, a comment about how his head’s definitely getting bigger. But for some reason Eddie’s praise made him want to melt into a puddle of flowers and sunshine. “Thank you, Eds.”

“Don’t call me that.” He muttered, like an automatic response. He started to turn around, but changed his mind at the last minute and quickly as lighting wrapped his arms around Richie, pulling him into a tight embrace. He stepped on his tippy toes to reach Richie’s ear. “I’m really proud of you Rich.” He whispered before letting go and running to his house with an unintelligible goodbye.

Richie was stunned, his mind struggling to catch up with what had just happened. His heart beat up fast, his face heated up, and Eddie’s words bounced around in his head. The warm feeling from before came back, but now it seemed like the dots were being connected in his brain. 

Standing in his front porch, under a starry July night, seeing as his best friend running to his house before curfew. That was the moment Richie realized that he was head over heels with Eddie Kaspbrak. 

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on [Twitter here!](https://twitter.com/bev_hm?s=21) Thanks for reading!


End file.
